Reasons to Quit the Cigs

Date: Thursday, 09 March 2017. -

Since 1984, National No Smoking Day has aimed to raise awareness about the dangers surrounding the habit of smoking.

Cigarettes are highly addictive and are extremely harmful to the person who smokes them along with the people around them.

One of the main aims of National No Smoking Day is to bring to light the many reasons people should kick the habit; so in line with this, we share our top three reasons we think people should bin the cigs for good.

Breathe Easy

After quitting smoking, people have the capability to breathe and cough a lot less than they did when they were smoking. This is because their lung capacity increases and can improve up to 10%.

You might not be able to notice this increase in lung capacity immediately after quitting as it can take anywhere up to nine months. Going out for a jog, a full run or partaking in any form of aerobic exercise will help you to see just how much your lung capacity has increased, as well as how much easier it is for you to breathe whilst enjoying the exercise.

Lung capacity decreases naturally as we age, but quitting smoking can mean the difference between having a healthy and active old age lifestyle, opposed to wheezing every time you venture off out.

Live Longer

According to the NHS, half of all long-term smokers will die early from smoking-related illnesses. These include heart disease, chronic bronchitis and lung cancer.

Individually, men who quit smoking before they reach 30 will add 10 years onto their life. Men and women who quit the habit at 60 years old add three years onto their lives.

The message here is that it’s never too late to quit and benefit from quitting. Not only will you add multiple years onto your life, but you’ll also significantly decrease your risks of contracting life-threatening diseases.

Protect Your Loved Ones

As many people are aware, smoking not only affects the smoker, but it also affects the people around them. For many, this will be family and friends.

For the people surrounding you as you smoke, they inhale what is called second-hand smoke, which can increase their chance of contracting lung cancer, heart diseases and even increase their chances of suffering a stroke.

If you smoke around children, it doubles their chance of getting serious chest illnesses, pneumonia included, ear infections, wheezing and even asthma. These children will have a three times more chance of getting lung cancer later in life than those who don’t live with or are not surrounded by smokers.

What Happens After You Quit?

Considering the negative effects smoking causes on the body, it’s surprising that there are in fact immediate positive effects on the body after you quit.

After just 20 minutes of being smoke-free, your pulse rate returns to normal and then after a further 8 hours nicotine and carbon monoxide levels in the blood reduce by more than half and oxygen levels return to a normal rate.

After two days of quitting carbon monoxide is completely eliminated from the body and the lungs start to clear out smoking debris, such as mucus. At this stage, there is no nicotine in the body and your ability to taste and smell is heightened. A day after this, breathing will become easier as the bronchial tubes begin to relax and your energy levels start to amplify.

After one year of being smoke-free, the risk of heart disease decreases to about half of a smoker’s risk. After ten years the risk of lung cancer also falls to about half of that of a smoker’s chance and after fifteen years, the risk of a heart attack falls to the same percentage as that of someone who has never smoked!

Ditch the Cigs

It’s clear to see that quitting smoking is the single most beneficial thing you can do to improve your overall health, however, we realise that quitting smoking is no easy feat, but as the old saying goes, ‘there’s no better time than now’.

Remember, at the end of quitting there’ll most definitely be a happier and even healthier you!

If you were inspired by National No Smoking Day, we’d love to hear from you! Maybe you were inspired enough to throw that new pack of cigarettes you bought in the bin and take the first step towards quitting? If you were inspired, we’d love to hear from you! Head on over to social media and Tweet us @imptraining and let us know what changes you’ve made since National No smoking Day.